Be With You
“Soon I won’t be with you any longer, but when the rainy season returns, I will come back and see how the two of you are getting along.”
This is a 100-word book review.
Be With You by Takuji Ichikawa (translated from the Japanese by Terry Gallagher) has a quiet, sentimental value to it. It’s a touching story about a husband and wife, and a little boy. Mio (wife) had died but when she returns home a year later, Takkun (husband) and Yuji (son) are shocked. Takkun recalls Mio’s words (see quote above) before her death. He re-tells the story of their life to Mio, because she has lost her memory when she returns as a ghost, but looking every bit a human. They fall in love all over again. It’s a heartbreaking story of a couple’s second chance at first love.
This is love. I am in love. I am in love with my wife’s ghost. Fantastic. (p. 89)
